THE “MEMORY STUDIES” DEVELOPMENT AND THE HISTORICAL MEMORY DYNAMICS IN INDEPENDENT UKRAINE FROM THE VIEW OF THE MODERN WESTERN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the historical memory development dynamics, which has a complex, contradictory nature, linked to changes in the government and the corresponding changes in the memory policy, regional and age characteristics of the population. The methodology of the research is based on the theory of scientific knowledge and general philosophical provisions concerning the dialectical interconnection and interdependence of phenomena and processes in society; the specific historical approach and the principles of integrity and objectivity. The article uses primarily the search-bibliographic, historiographic and comparative methods in order to characterize the multifaceted approach of Western scholars concerning the historical memory problems related to the events of World War II. The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the historical science of Ukraine, the most recent English historiography on the historical memory problems in our country concerning the devastating years of World War II has been analyzed from a critical point of view. The Conclusions. Thus, the experience of World War II, which was the greatest tragedy for the peoples of Europe, became the most complex and ambiguous in terms of interpretation. For Ukraine, which was not an independent state at the time, it was more complicated because of the two totalitarian regimes domination: the Communist and the Nazis. The conflicting interpretations of the past, which took place in different regions of Ukraine, were systematically used by politicians during the electoral race, which hindered the creation of a national consensus. Analyzing the historical memory development in modern Ukraine, Western analysts tend to isolate such issues as the collective memory dependence on the regions’ historical path peculiarities, the population’s pre-war and military experience, and changes in the memory politics by the authorities. And these changes in our state were extremely difficult due to the historical science politicization by the ruling elite. The history nationalization, which also took place in Russia, formed the basis for the formation of pro-Soviet historical myths, the “The Great Patriotic War” glorification and, at the same time, the distortion of the Ukrainian experience during 1939 – 1944. The “memory wars” became one of the major causes of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict.